


Higher

by inoru_no_hoshi



Series: Pop Idol AU [1]
Category: Hikaru no Go
Genre: AU, Alternate Universe - Music & Bands, Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2012-07-27
Updated: 2012-07-27
Packaged: 2017-11-10 20:18:52
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 417
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/470265
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/inoru_no_hoshi/pseuds/inoru_no_hoshi
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p><em>"Impressive, isn't it?" Ogata murmurs; Akira hadn't even noticed his manager, too busy </em>listening<em>. "His name's Shindou Hikaru, he's seventeen, and he's only here because his vocal coach made him audition."</em></p>
            </blockquote>





	Higher

**Author's Note:**

  * For [aoigensou](https://archiveofourown.org/users/aoigensou/gifts).



> This is totally the start of a series, but I didn't finish my main story in time to really flesh out this idea. (But that's okay, I have _all the plotting_ in mind.) That is also the only way I'm justifying it not being more shippy. Hee.
> 
> On a rather geeky note, _kobushi_ (辛夷) means "magnolia" - specifically, [magnolia kobus](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Magnolia_kobus). Also, _kobushi_ can be written 小節, which makes me and my tendency towards wordplay happy, because then it means "undulating melodic ornamentation or embellishment, esp. in folk and popular songs". How could it not, then, be the awesomest name ever for a record company? :D

The first time Akira hears Shindou sing, he at first wonders why Kobushi Records signed him, because those were definitely flat notes, and _that_ was a sharp one.

And then Shindou takes a breath and slides into the chorus, and Akira blinks, because Shindou is singing like a treble. Effortlessly. It's not as sustained or supported as it could be - he's not getting enough air, that note definitely wasn't supposed to end that early - but Akira is impressed anyway.

_Adult men don't have that range_. It's a refrain he's heard for years, ever since his own voice settled into a distinctly high counter-tenor, and he's always having to tell people that, no, he really doesn't exaggerate his range and, no, it's not digitally enhanced.

But here, here is a boy who looks like he came straight out of a punk band doing it almost as easily as Akira does.

"Impressive, isn't it?" Ogata murmurs; Akira hadn't even noticed his manager, too busy _listening_. "His name's Shindou Hikaru, he's seventeen, and he's only here because his vocal coach made him audition."

Akira frowns. "Made him...?"

"Apparently," Ogata replies wryly, "he's more into football than music, and he only _has_ a vocal coach because Fujiwara-san literally badgered Shindou-kun into hiring him after he heard Shindou-kun sing. At karaoke."

"You're joking," Akira blurts. "A voice like that and he'd rather play _football_?"

"Fujiwara-san bribed his football team to not schedule a match today," Ogata replies. At Akira's incredulous look, he laughs. "I couldn't make this up if I tried, Touya-kun."

"Utterly ridiculous," Akira mutters. Then, "Wait. Fujiwara-san— You don't mean Fujiwara _Sai_?"

Ogata just nods, and gestures across the room; Fujiwara-san is watching Shindou closely, scarcely moving, and Akira's a little suprised he hadn't noticed Fujiwara-san before. Hair that long is noticeable - especially when it's _purple_.

"I thought he'd retired," Akira says, low, as Shindou slowly, gently, brings the song down towards its end.

"So did I," Ogata agrees. And then he smiles. "I believe, Touya-kun, that the music scene is about to get very... Interesting."

Akira doesn't reply, because he's been distracted by Shindou again. This song, most people carry it low and sweet from bridge to the end; Shindou takes the last two lines like they're a challenge, and ends on a sustained note so high, so well executed - not a wobble, not even as it fades softer - that Akira's eyes flutter shut in appreciation.

And that's when he decides Shindou is someone worth keeping an eye on.


End file.
